Illusions of Family: The Unexpected Rival

My boyfriend was Timothy Harper. After Ivy Slater, his cousin, divorced, she moved in with my boyfriend's family.

She was pregnant and brought a five-year-old kid in tow.

She naturally regarded my boyfriend as her support and was dissatisfied with me.

She believed that I had taken her cousin, Timothy, away from her.

During a family gathering, her son, Brice Slater, splashed his drink on me and shouted, "You can't take my dad away!"

1.

The sudden incident left everyone stunned.

My parents and Timothy hurried over and cleaned the sticky orange juice on my dress while I stood there, a bit dazed. I was just watching the angry little boy.

Brice was only five years old. He resembled his mother and looked quite adorable.

At that moment, however, his eyes burned with anger. He was like a little knight fighting for justice.

Ivy walked over and pulled Brice aside. Ivy said casually, "Brice, he isn't your dad. He's your uncle."

She didn't say Brice did something wrong, and nor did she blame him. She was about to lead him away like that.

My mother was furious and shouted at Ivy, "Stop right there! You owe my daughter an apology. Is this how you educate your son?"

Ivy remained indifferent. She looked at us frowning. In her eyes, we seemed unreasonable. "He's just a kid. What can he understand?" she said.

"If he doesn't understand anything, do you not understand anything either?" I said, and my anger was ignited.

Timothy's parents began to gently persuade me.

But they didn't ask Ivy and Brice to apologize. Instead, they urged me to forgive Ivy and Brice. "Stella, don't mind it. He's just a boy. Let's just enjoy the gathering."

Their words made it seem like I was causing trouble.

It was the first formal meeting between our families, and all important relatives were present.

I had even worn a good dress I usually hesitated to wear for the occasion.

But Brice's drink ruined my dress, which cost over two thousand.

I was really annoyed.

But Brice hadn't even apologized to me.

The atmosphere grew tense.

Just then, my nephew, who had been standing nearby, picked up a drink and splashed it on Brice.

The room erupted.

Ivy gasped in surprise and frantically cleaned Brice with a napkin while glaring at us.

My nephew's father rubbed my nephew's head and returned the words. "He's just a kid and doesn't understand anything. Please don't mind it."

It was a blatant retaliation.

And since it was what Timothy's family had said before, they couldn't refute it.

I calmed down a bit.

Timothy pulled Brice over and sternly said, "Apologize to Stella."

"No way!" Brice saw Timothy, who usually doted on him, now was asking him to apologize and was even more convinced that I was a bad woman.

He rushed over and pushed me hard, screaming, "Get out! Get out! I don't want you to get married to Uncle Timothy!"

In my mind, a five-year-old boy was innocent and lively.

Why would Brice harbor such hatred towards me?

I firmly believed that he was influenced by others.

I glanced at Ivy standing not far away. She remained there, nonchalant as if nothing mattered.

Even her pregnant belly rising and falling seemed to irritate me.

My parents couldn't hold back their anger. They pulled me away while saying, "I think this relationship cannot keep on."

Timothy saw us leave and became anxious. He pulled Brice and tried to make him apologize. "Timothy, is this woman more important than your nephew?" Ivy said. She hadn't been worried before. But she immediately walked over to Timothy and protected Brice when she saw him being treated roughly.

Timothy's parents went over and advised Timothy not to treat Brice that way.

Seeing their attitude, my parents became even angrier. They left the restaurant quickly with me.

2.

It was the first meeting between the two families, and it ended so unpleasantly.

My parents were still angry when we got home. But Timothy and I had dated for ten years. We couldn't just break up easily.

We were both adults now. We would consider many things and have more concerns in our hearts.

My mother said, "You'd better talk to Timothy and ask him what was going on today. I think he is a good guy. Why does he have such a peculiar family?"

Dad nodded in agreement and said, "And Ivy stirred up trouble while pregnant. I was worried she'd start a fight and then fake an injury for sympathy."

I couldn't help but laugh.

My mother poked my head and said, "You still have the heart to laugh? I really think Ivy is strange. Why does she stay with Timothy's family after her divorce? And she seems to dislike you as you seem to have taken something from her."

My mother was right.

I didn't know much about Ivy.

I only knew Timothy's mom was good to her brother, who had a daughter when he was old.

So Timothy's mother treated Ivy as her daughter.

Timothy had told me about something when he was a boy.

Ivy grew up with him, and they were very close, like siblings.

That was why she was allowed to live with Timothy's family after her divorce.

Even when she lost her source of income, she led a comfortable life mainly because five people were supporting her, Ivy's parents, Timothy's parents, and Timothy himself.

Perhaps she thought that if I got married to Timothy, she might lose four sources of financial support.

She still had to raise a five-year-old son and an unborn baby.

It would be expensive to pay education fees and baby formula. Ivy's ex-husband was useless and liked to fool around. He would never give her any money.

So she had no choice but to rely on her beloved cousin's family.

That explanation made sense.

No wonder she thought that I was taking something from her.

My phone vibrated, showing a new message.

I opened it and saw a long apology from Timothy's mother.

She expressed regret for the unpleasant matter when the two families met for the first time.

Her words lowered her stance, and Timothy's other family members in the group, including those who had been silent for a long time, also began to apologize to me.

My anger eased a bit.

After all, I just wanted them to show their attitude.

No one would be happy to face such a hostile reception on the first visit to their family.

I had just typed a bunch of forgiving words on the keyboard when Timothy's uncle apologized to me. "Today's incident was all Brice's fault. But it's also because we didn't properly discipline him."

He then tagged Ivy and asked her to apologize to me.

The group fell silent instantly.

For five minutes, no one responded.

I couldn't believe they couldn't see each other's messages while they stayed at the same place. Obviously, Ivy refused to apologize to me.

My anger flared up again. And I deleted the message in the chat box that said, "Let's all get along."

Another five minutes passed before Ivy finally sent a message. "Sorry, Stella. Please forgive us."

She followed it up with several photos.

All the photos were about me with a guy, including one where I wore a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet and smiled brightly.

I felt my blood rush to my head.

Those photos were ones I had posted on various social media platforms long ago.

How did she find them?

I felt a sense of shame as if someone had stripped me naked and was snooping on me.

She continued, "Stella, you've dined with this guy multiple times, which indicated a close relationship between you and him. The bracelet around your wrist was also a gift from him, wasn't it? I've been observing you for a long time. With your and Timothy's salaries, you couldn't afford such a bracelet. So I want to ask if you are his mistress."

She brought baseless accusations into the family group and seemed complacent.

She seemed to want everyone to praise her as a good detective.

At that moment, I had no words to respond, except to send a smiling emoji.

Timothy was even more furious than I was. He scolded her, saying, "What nonsense are you spouting? That guy is Stella's cousin. She only sees him once a year at the family gathering. And the bracelet was bought by him. What on earth are you rambling about? Are you crazy?"

Timothy and I had been in a relationship for ten years, and it was the first time I saw him so angry.

He was clearly enraged to the point of spitting blood.

Ivy quickly withdrew her messages. But the photos couldn't be recalled. They remained in the chat, glaringly obvious.

The others in the group started chatting superficially. Soon those pictures couldn't be easily seen as there were so many messages.

But as I looked at those images, I realized Ivy had been spying on me for months.

I had posted many trifles on my social media and had set them to be visible for six months. Ivy must have started to spy on me a year ago since she could find those photos.

She had done that for so long and saved only a few photos of me dining with my cousin and wearing an expensive bracelet.

She just wanted to accuse me of cheating on Timothy.

I was too disgusted to speak. At the same time, my anger was boiling over.

Timothy messaged me to comfort me, saying not to let this incident affect my health. "Our whole family is infuriated by her. We don't know what she's up to... Don't be upset, honey. My mom said she would apologize to you face to face when you come over in a few days. Our family really went too far today. Please explain it to your parents."

I was relieved again and sighed, "I'd better not mention it, or they'll get upset too."

Timothy had nothing to do with Ivy, so I couldn't vent my anger at him.

Thus, I decided to give Timothy and his family another chance.

3.

I visited their place again on a weekend.

Timothy's parents stayed with his uncle's family.

The place wasn't large, yet it was crowded with people. It felt even more cramped and suffocating.

Fortunately, both his uncle and his aunt were at work that day, leaving only six people there.

Ivy was sitting on the couch in the living room and watching TV. Brice sat beside her. As soon as he saw me, he frowned and looked unfriendly.

But he must have been warned, so he did nothing else as he only glared at me.

I sat down next to him.

Ivy touched her pregnant belly and questioned me as soon as I sat down, "Why aren't you helping out instead of sitting here?"

I said, "I'm a guest. What should I help with?"

She was usually idle at home. But when it came to me, she was quick to judge.

Brice saw some new Transformers toys on TV and screamed, tugged at his mother's hand, and shouted, "Mommy, Mommy, I want that! I want the one with the price of 388 dollars. Buy it for me, please."

Ivy said, "We'll ask Uncle Timothy to buy it for you later, okay?" Ivy said those words in an extremely natural tone. It seemed that Timothy had bought Brice stuff countless times before.

So Timothy was supposed to take care of Ivy and her children.

But I didn't get angry and just continued scrolling through my phone with a calm expression.

Seeing that I wasn't upset, Ivy gently said to Brice, "Brice, you need to be sensible. Once Uncle Timothy gets married, he won't spoil you as much."

What?

I looked at her in disbelief and couldn't believe that she said those words to her son.

Now I understood why Brice looked at me with resentment.

Ivy's family seemed like leeches, planning to exploit Timothy.

Before I could speak, Timothy's mother called me over. "Stella, Ivy, dinner is ready."

During dinner, Timothy's mother kept serving me food and apologized to me profusely.

She concluded in the end, "You've been dating for so many years, and everyone thinks you will get married later. Don't let this small matter affect your relationship."

That was the final nail in the coffin.

I could only smile and say, "Of course not, Mrs. Harper. Timothy and I have always had a good relationship."

Beside me, Brice clung to Timothy. He murmured, "Uncle Timothy, I want the Transformers on TV."

"Alright. I will buy it for you," Timothy said gently.

Brice continued, "Uncle Timothy, after you get married, will you stop caring about me and Mommy?"